I'll Find You
by Bookdancer
Summary: Minor AU: Legolas never expected to find a dwarfling in Mirkwood, but that didn't mean he would leave the young one to fend for himself. Follows Legolas through the discovery to his father's dungeons to the BoFA. Rated T for… well, I think you know. One-shot.


_Yes! I'm finally publishing this! I started this in… March, I think it was, but I never got back to it until now. As a result, the beginning isn't as well written as the ending, but I did make some editing choices as I typed it up._

_I do not own _The Hobbit_._

_Also, I have seen _The Desolation of Smaug_, but as I said I already had the majority written. I'm sorry that it isn't cannon, but there's not really anything I can do about that._

_Please enjoy!_

I'll Find You

He moved quickly but silently through Mirkwood Forest, stepping lightly on leaves and twigs. His father had told him to join one of the patrols watching the dwarves on the edge of the forest, but he had refused. Not all elves disliked dwarves, and he was one of them. He thought they were just… well, misunderstood. And, although he told himself he was going to protect the dwarves for the dwarves, he knew it wasn't the whole reason he was going. He really just wanted to spite his father.

The blond suddenly stopped in the middle of the path and cocked his head, much like a bird, listening. If his hearing was right...

It wasn't even a full thirty seconds before the elf was bounding through the forest with renewed speed, heading to where he knew he had heard it - crying. He heard it falter as he got closer, no doubt hearing his footsteps (because, despite his best efforts, he wasn't exactly being quiet with the leaves scattered everywhere over the ground).

Within a few minutes he caught sight of the crier. To his surprise, it wasn't an elf as he had first thought, but a dwarf. Dwarf_ling_ he corrected himself. He was a tiny one, no doubt only about five years of age, and had dark brown hair and eyes that peered up at him in fear.

"Hello, little one." The elf said gently. "What's your name?"

Instead of responding, the dwarfing just gazed at him in trepidation, unwilling to talk to one of the creatures his uncle and brother had warned him about.

"My name's Legolas." The taller of the two said, not at all daunted by the silence. He sat next to the dwarfing and, over the next several minutes, moved closer and closer until they were practically touching. Finally, the bairn spoke.

"I'm Kili." He said softly, though obviously filled with unreleased excitement and pent up energy. "I'm lost."

"Is that so?" Legolas questioned in fake surprise. "I don't suppose you'd be one of those brave, strong dwarves traveling along the edge of Mirkwood Forest, would you?"

Kili's eyes lit up almost immediately at Legolas' question, and he moved even closer to the blond in his excitement. "Yes! My uncle and brother are there! And Mister Dwalin, an' Mister Balin, an' Bofur, an', an', and a bunch of others!"

"I don't suppose you want me to take you to them, do you?"

"Would you?" Kili stared up at Legolas with trusting, brown eyes filled with the innocence of his youth.

"Why not?" The elf replied. "It would be considered both rude and heartless if I did not. Now, come on. We had better get you back before they decide to send out any search parties."

He carefully lifted Kili into his arms, mindful of the boy's small stature. They set off immediately, Kili's arms wound tightly around Legolas' neck. He quickly, to Legolas' amusement, discovered the quiver strapped to the elf's back. As a result, the majority of the walk through the forest was spent talking about bows and arrows. To Legolas' delight, he discovered that Kili was actually interested in them, unlike other dwarves.

But it wasn't until they were only a few hundred yards away from the group of dwarves, still hidden in the trees, when Legolas' necklace fell out of his shirt and bounced on his chest next to Kili.

The dwarfing grabbed at it as Legolas came to a stop, already knowing what their next conversation would be on.

"What's this?" The dark-haired bairn asked.

"It's my necklace." Legolas explained. "It's pure diamond and, as you can see, has a bird carved into it. It's a hawk, a bird of prey. My mother gave it to me before she died, saying that if I wear it help will always come when I am lost." Legolas paused, thinking. He was pretty much an adult now. A young one, yes, but an adult nonetheless. "Here." He said finally, placing it around the dwarfling's neck and tucking it in his shirt. "Wear this, and when you are lost help will come."

Kili grabbed it through his shirt, strangely quiet, as if he understood the gravity of the situation. It wasn't for another couple of minutes that he spoke. "Thanks. For everything."

Legolas smiled. "You are welcome, Little Hawk."

He wasn't all too sure where the nickname came from, but he liked it… and Kili seemed to, as well. It was with a sadness and hesitance that Legolas placed the young dwarfing on the ground.

"Bye, Legolas!" Kili giggled, waving as he ran backward through the trees.

Said elf was silent as he waved goodbye, watching as dwarves surrounded Kili and he no doubt received a good lecture. But it wasn't until Kili had disappeared that he spoke.

"Goodbye, Kili. Little Hawk."

* * *

_72 years later;_  
_Thranduil's dungeons:_

Legolas paused, listening, outside the entrance to his father's dungeons. He had heard that Thranduil had captured thirteen dwarves, and he wanted to see if… well, it was unlikely, anyway. He was one dwarf out of… how many? Hundreds. What was the chance that - he froze and pressed himself up against the stone walls. Sound had finally begun to emanate from within in the form of yells.

"Give that back! It's mine, give it back!"

"Yeah right, _dwarf_." A second voice sneered. "This is obviously the craftsmanship of an elf - most likely of the royal family by its quality. You stole it."

"No I didn't! It was given to me!" The first voice was back, indignant and - if Legolas dared to say it - desperate.

The elf prince paused, thinking, before making his decision.

* * *

The next morning, when Legolas entered the dungeon, the dwarves were gone. Still, when he rifled through the drawers of the captain's desk, he found what he was looking for.

A diamond gem with a hawk carved on the front.

* * *

_Days later, during the Battle of Five Armies:_

A quick glance around him showed Legolas nothing but orcs, goblins, wargs, elves, men, and unfamiliar dwarves fighting to the death. Swords flashed through bodies and the air, blood following most strokes even as arrows soared to their targets and pierced flesh and bone. Pausing on top of a large boulder, the elf scanned what he could see more thoroughly than the glance had let him, but once again he saw no sight of the dwarf he was looking for.

"Kili!" He called out, firing an arrow into the throat of an unsuspecting orc. He followed that arrow with another, this time to the orc's companion. Both fell to the blood and body-ridden ground, battle cries silenced on their black lips. Three more arrows found their targets in a large warg about to pounce on another elf, but Legolas paid both of them the same amount of attention - that is to say, none. His eyes still searched through the crowded battlefield for dark brown eyes, brown hair, and a familiar grin.

All of a sudden, his eyes alighted upon the dwarf he was looking for, but that one look told him that he would regret seeing what he saw.

"Kili." He breathed, the dwarf's name just a whisper rather than the yell it had previously been. "No… Kili!"

Legolas bounded down from the boulder, beginning to fight with a renewed vigor through the five armies as he abandoned his bow for a sword. Within minutes, the shining silver was dull under the red coating it from tip to pommel. Legolas found that, however far his younger friend had seemed to have been before, it was nothing compared to the actual distance that he had to travel.

Before long, however, he discovered that he had sunken to his knees beside the other prince. Nearby he saw Thorin Oakenshield laying, still, on the ground, blood coating his armor and weapons. Fili, the dwarf he recognized as Kili's brother, was slumped next to Kili, his blue eyes staring sightlessly at nothing, red swept through his hair and mustache. His hand, however, was still clutched in Kili's. Legolas forced himself to move his gaze from Kili's relatives to Kili himself, but as he did he felt grief flood through him.

Disregarding the battle going on around him and trusting his fellow elves to guard him, he slowly uncurled the fist that the dark-haired dwarf had wrapped around the end of a chain. At seeing that nothing was attached to the chain, despite there being a clasp for exactly that reason, Legolas bowed his head in pain. The blond removed the diamond gem from his pocket before carefully placing it in Kili's hand with the chain and closing the fingers again.

"I am sorry, Little Hawk." Legolas whispered as he stood. "I was too late."

_Obviously, the nick name was one I made up, but I liked it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this, and please review!_


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